I'm Definitely Unimportant
by EgyptianLuvvah
Summary: What did you do to get Saeki out any way?" Fuji's smile broadened. "I told him to kiss Tezuka." I saw the look on his face and knew I shouldn't have asked, but I couldn't help it. "Where?" I could feel the bad vibe coming from him. "Saa...on the penis."
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hello everybody I'm back! This story is totally different due to the fact that my RyoSaku obsession has died down. I hope this is a lot better than my other story, which I had no plot whatsoever for. Well, that's about it, enjoy!

Pairings: RyoSaku is the only one on the list for now.

Disclaimer: I do not, and most definitely will not, own PoT. The only things I own are the plot and my OCs, like Fuji's other sister Rose for example.

**I'm Definitely Unimportant**

_Chapter 1:_

"You look lovely."

"Absolutely."

"No doubt about it."

"The only thing comparable to you is the sunset."

"Even that doesn't match up!"

Murmurs of agreement followed the last statement.

"Are you sure it doesn't make me look fat?"

"Oh, heavens no!"

"Why would you even think so?"

"That's absolutely imposturous!"

I rolled my eyes at the incessant chatter coming through the cracked door. I swear if I heard one more thing about sunsets, roses, incomparable beauty, or "gorgeous" princes, I'll—

"What are you checking the coast for?"

I whipped around so fast I nearly hit the person standing in front of me.

Checking that I didn't have whip lash first, I looked up to see who had intruded my personal space.

Standing at 5'7" (don't ask me how I know) was the prince. The prince…yes as in riding in on horses, killing dragons, and saving princesses from high towers type of prince. Except, Prince Fuji didn't do those type of things, and never would. He would much rather read a book, or look at scenery, or take care of the royal garden, or even be his creepy self and scare the house cooks like me.

"Nothing Your Royal Highness," I said accompanied with a curtsy.

Chuckling he stood next to me and peered through the door.

"Looks like Serria-san's here too…" he said as his eyes opened.

I resisted the urge to twitch.

Fuji Syusuke was one of the most interesting people I have met, but nothing can change the fact that he was a guy, and like every other guy, he talked about _Lady Serria._

Serria is the most dimwitted person on this planet. She could have been a copy of Cinderella, except this girl would fit the role of the evil stepsister. Instead of scrubbing the floors on her hands and knees, she purposely made messes for others to clean. Speaking of scrubbing, she hasn't even touched a cleaning instrument, not even to clean herself. She had her personal maids make her sparkle. And the only thing she had gotten on her knees was for—well never mind.

To sum it all up, Serria was a bimbo who was always tarted up, and had no brains to speak of.

Anyway, the witch must have been summoned by her name and stuck her face, chest, and any other body parts she could fit out the door without actually stepping out of the room.

"Oh, Prince Syusuke, I thought you had left on a hunting trip." She fluttered her eyelashes and stuck her lips out. Lips that were completely covered in bright pink lipstick, may I add?

"I would much rather help my sister in her time of need."

"Of course you would."

Then she proceeded to do what I thought was the impossible; she thrust even more of herself out the door, and that's when she reminded me of something. Before I had forgotten to bring up the fact that she stuffed her bra.

Those things weren't real. She really wasn't a C, shoot; she could probably still fit into training bras!

But nobody noticed these things except me, especially the prince.

"What kind of brother would I be?"

If they leaned any farther toward each other, I think it would be easier if they just stepped into the same room, or maybe they just think it's more romantic if they remained separated? Who knows, definitely not me.

"Excuse me miss, could you move out my way for a bit." I had to stop this before I threw up.

She looked at me as if I were a fly splattered on a horses arse.

"And who are you?"

Her voice was as dry as her skin underneath all that makeup.

"I was instructed to give the Her Royal Highness the Princess an important piece to her gown."

"Oh, then carry on."

As I slide past her and into the room behind her, I made sure to exaggerate the swing of my arms as I carried the basket into the grand suite and "accidently" elbow her in one of her "boobs". It flattened considerably from the pressure. The fake smile on her face thinned into a straight line as she tried to discreetly prop it back up in place.

I was thinking sad thoughts to keep the smirk off my face.

I carefully stepped around the garments that had been tossed to the floor as I walked toward the cluster of girls around a chair.

"Your Royal Highness," I called out. Getting her by surprise would be a very bad thing to do.

She turned around slowly.

Once again I was taken aback by her beauty.

All of the royal family was attractive, even the youngest son Yuuta who had a bad temper and attitude. He wasn't as good looking as his older brother Fuji, but when he smiled; he gained a few fan girls. But I think that his bad attitude doesn't matter, he could be quite nice, and his temper was quite comical. The only time he was scary is when he got serious. Actually, the whole family was scary when they were serious.

Anyway, back to the princess.

I remember when I first heard the story of how the King and Queen named her. They had supposedly been traveling to another land to make allies with them, and while they were there, the Queen had seen a flower so beautiful she vowed to name her next daughter after it. Next thing you know, a new princess named Rose had joined the royal family.

Damn. What a lucky girl.

Come on, if someone was named after a flower so lovely that it convinced their mother to name them after it _in the first place,_ you know they're going to be gorgeous.

She's living proof; she's pretty in a different way from the others.

The rest of the family had light, well, medium light, brown hair. Prince Fuji, Queen Ayame, and Princess Yumiko all had blue eyes, while the King, Yuuta, and Rose all had gray.

Rose, like I said before, had gray eyes, and the blackest hair and palest skin ever to be seen by the mortal eye.

The only way to help visualize her is to say she looked like a china doll, or better yet, Snow White. The only difference in their appearances is Rose's lips. Instead the color of blood like described in the fairy tales, hers were a pale pink. Either than that, they were carbon copies of each other.

Back to the present, though.

Her hair reach slightly passed her shoulders and her cheeks were rosy as always. Her stormy colored eyes were filled with unshed tears; obviously her "friends" and "advisors" weren't doing a great job.

One of her dainty hands flew to her mouth when she saw it was me. Quicker than I thought possible, she rushed over and threw her arms around my neck.

"This is so horrible!"

"Rose-hime, what's wrong?" I started out polite even though I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The longer I stayed in there it seemed, the faster my IQ points dropped. Soon I would be talking about flowers, and dresses, and the most eligible bachelors in the area.

"Look at this dress!" She had been wearing a white satin robe over her dress, and then flung it off to reveal the monster underneath.

The bright, pink, ruffley, _ugly_ dress really was horrible. For once it looks like Rose isn't being too dramatic after all.

It was so ugly that I couldn't control my facial features, and Rose saw the look on my face before I could stop it.

"It really looks that bad?"

I considered lying to her and saying it looked just fine, but there was no way I was going to let her wear that.

"Yup, absolutely horrid."

She broke down.

I knew it was wrong to do this to her while she was stressed, but tough love was needed majorly.

Sighing, I dropped the basket, and walked across the creamy white carpet toward the walk in closest.

Flinging open the white painted doors, I began the quest for the perfect dress.

It didn't take me long to find it.

Never been worn, and made especially just for this occasion, was the perfect dress for her.

It was white as the snow on the ground, with a petticoat a light blue like the sky. The corset was also the same light blue with silver colored straps keeping it together. A pair of white gloves that reached up to the elbow came with the dress. An intricate pattern of gold was spun across the edges of them, completing the simple, yet elegant look.

"But it's boring, and simple, and plain."

"And it fits you perfectly."

"Are you saying that I'm boring, and simple, and plain—?"

"It just fits your look."

"But I—"

"Wear it."

Sensing the hostility in my voice, she took away the dress with a pout, and glided over to her personal changing corner.

She came out with the gown on, but insisted to take it off immediately. I don't see why, she looked like a…uh…princess…in that thing! And all the other girls who abandoned her were suddenly interested in her appearance again.

"Wow! You look lovely."

"A vision of loveliness no doubt."

"So beautiful it hurts my eyes!"

"This will be the most popular coming out party yet!"

Nods and "Oh, yes!"s filled the room. One of them was mine. When I realized that I was staring to participate in this stupid fest, I quickly snatched the basket off the floor. I had to complete the mission I was handed fast, if I don't, I might become one of _them_ soon.

"Your Royal Highness, I have something for you."

Rose, now completely infatuated with her dress, beamed at me.

"What is it?"

"It's in here, got to go!" I dropped the basket at her feet and raced to the door, which was still blocked by Serria's big bosom. Now that left me with a problem.

Squeezing past that _thing_ would be impossible, if I did, I wouldn't come out the other side alive, but as a pancake instead. So, I would have to convince the beast to retreat to its lair (Rose's room).

"Miss, excuse me."

Her head turned slightly in my direction.

"What?" _Someone_ sounded rude.

"Rose-hime has another dress on, miss."

Now she whipped around fully. I tried not to laugh at her appearance. Serria's face had a line across it from being pressed up to the door for so long, and her "boob" wasn't exactly aligned with the other one. Plus she looked so bewildered at my news.

"But the one I picked out was wonderful."

Yeah, wonderfully tacky. I wouldn't even use that to clean the horse stall; the horses might get scared and cause a ruckus. It didn't surprise me though; someone like her would pick that dress. No point in dwelling on the matter, the more I did the more time I was wasting in here.

As I walked past her through the door, I whispered, "Better go fix that in a mirror next time, miss."

I think she glared at me on my way out, but I ran out as soon as I uttered those words. Serria never liked me and would try to get revenge later, but for now, I was going to enjoy messing with her a bit.

I was in such a hurry I once again crashed into prince. We both fell to the floor in a big heap, me on top. It didn't take long for me to get up and rush away. I was so worried about my intelligence I didn't even apologize. Oh well, I'll see him later.

* * *

Yay! The first chapter's finished! Hopefully it won't end up like the last one…Shoo depressing thoughts! This was my late birthday present to myself and I'm very happy about it. Just hope anybody who reads this does too!

R&R please!

Egyptianlover


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Hellooooooooooooooo again after this horribly long un-updated period. There is a reason though. Everything was on my laptop and it had some technological difficulties, so yeah. Thank God I saved everything on this little wonderful helpful thing called a flash drive! I just had to migrate my stuff onto another one of my fabby computers at home that are used by one of my family members 24/7—you see where I'm going with this. So now, at almost 1:00 in the morning, I have found an empty computer to update my story with!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Prince of Tennis.

* * *

I was on my way to the kitchen when I heard it first.

"…From Armenia is missing." A girl said in a hushed voice.

"Are you serious? The princess?"

My ears perked up. This sounded like some good gossip.

"Yes. The royal family tried to keep it a secret, but word of it leaked out."

"I hope they find her, the Land of Armenia is one of the Powerful Three!"

"I know, and guess what the worst of it is. Supposedly, the one who's missing, she was going to be the next ruler!"

"Oh my, that's horrible."

"I know, isn't it? We better get back to work; I can't afford any more docks in my pay."

Hm…that is quite interesting…I'll think about it later. I should get to work too, I don't want _my_ pay being cut.

Ahhhhh…the kitchen…the big, steamy, wonderful kitchen, the place I call home, my sanctuary, the only place in this god forsaken castle where I could get some peace of mind…

"Yo! Where's the chicken, we have guest tonight!"

…Like I said, peaceful.

"You got beef?"

"Yeah, WITH YOU!"

"Cows suck…DUCKS WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"

…Okay…maybe it is a little noisy today…I will have to make those dummies of cooks shut up. The boys always like to mess around.

"Oi! Could you shut up?"

"Sorry."

There we go.

I went over to my station to start cooking, someone would see me and fill me in on the menu sooner a later if I stood there long enough.

"It's salmon for us today, Amina."

And that would be my informer. Her name was Sakuno, and she was probably one of the best bakers and foreign cooks here. If there was a recipe from halfway across the world, she would know how to make it. And if someone all of a sudden had a craving for cookies, she was the one who was measuring out the sugar.

Sakuno was also the shyest girl in the world. She hated being the center of attention like me, and could not talk to anyone if she didn't personally know them.

The Prince (Syusuke) asked her a question once, and she started stuttering like an idiot. And it was a known fact she had a crush on one of his friends, Ryoma Echizen, the prince of a kingdom close by. I know, I know, I, as one of her friends, should try to talk her out of it, but it didn't seem too far fetched. Ryoma was a very cold person, but he was always nicer to Sakuno for some reason.

But this is not the time to be dwelling on thoughts like these, I have salmon to prepare!

I grabbed a knife from the drawer and stole a fish from somebody behind me. Carefully I brought the knife to it and nearly started cutting when a hand stopped me.

Did they know who they were messing with? Maybe if I cut off one of their fingers they might think about it next time.

"Sorry, but your presence is requested."

Uh-oh. I knew that voice.

I just nearly cut off one of Prince Fuji's fingers.

My head slowly turned to see him smiling down at me.

"Uh…hi Prince…didn't, uh, see you standing there."

My nervous laughter made his grin grow wider.

"Don't say you thought about chopping off my fingers now."

"Of course not…w-why would you even think that?"

"No reason." He took me by the hand and hurried me out the door. I considered asking what this intrusion was about, but by the look on his face, I could tell he wasn't planning on telling me.

Finally he stopped, and I noticed we were in front of a pair of big, oak, double doors.

Why the hell were we here…this looks like the—crap!? That freak of a prince just pushed me in!

Blinded by light, it took me awhile to figure out this was the throne room. In front of me was the royal line.

The King, Yoshiko the Queen, Yumiko the oldest daughter, Rose the youngest daughter, and Yuuta, the youngest son were all sitting (or slouching in Yuuta's case) in front of me. And Syusuke, the oldest son, was behind me.

Quicker than a flash, I was on my knees.

"Rise!" the king boomed in a loud voice.

I rose.

"You look surprised, servant."

I made my eyes go slightly wider.

"I bet you want to know why you are here."

I nodded.

"Yoshiko will tell you."

I looked to the queen.

"You have been chosen to entertain the guest for the coming out party of Rose."

I could not keep quiet any longer.

"What!?"

This could not be happening to me; it had to be a dream.

"Do you want me to pinch you?"

I looked behind me at Fuji who was smiling a mile a minute (well…he always does).

Entertaining the guest meant _meeting_ the guest, and hello...the guests are _royalty,_ that opened many opportunities. Or, if I do well, I might get a promotion. I was saving up funds for the Academy, and I needed to use every chance I get.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you!" If I bowed any lower I might as well just sit down.

I heard laughter and l looked up, the King found my bowing amusing.

"Don't thank me, it was Rose's idea."

"_Rose_!?"

The girl smiled at me.

"If it wasn't for you, I would be stuck wearing that ugly, terrifying beast."

I couldn't help but reply, "How can you wear Lady Serria?"

I immediately clapped my hand over my mouth. This was the first time I had ever slipped in front of one of them. Smart remarks like that are bad enough, but about a noble no less.

The silence that came after that comment was deafening. I was about to take it back when the King finally broke the silence.

"What a relief. At least I don't feel guilty about thinking bad about her anymore."

The rest of the family started to laugh, Yuuta even snickered a bit. What luck, they all seemed to like me!

After a bit, the King looked at me and spoke.

"Rose has chosen well, at first I wasn't sure about giving her this responsibility, but I'm glad I did."

With those words I knew it was time to leave.

Bowing once more, I turned around and left through the big door.

I was almost out when I heard him say, "By the way, you're going to need practice, so I have arranged for you to help with the guest of tonight."

The doors slammed before I had anytime to object.

Fuji, still grinning, started to walk back toward the kitchen. I only had the choice to follow.

We walked slowly as if we didn't have a care in the world. I would have enjoyed this if it weren't for the fact that neither of us was talking. The awkward silence enveloped us until I couldn't take it any more. Something had to be said.

"Did you hear about Armenia, Your Highness?"

His face turned grave. "Yeah, I heard about that. I hope she's okay."

"Do you know any details?"

He shook his head. "Not really, I'm just wondering how long they've been searching for her. All I know is it didn't start today. They've had to have been searching around Armenia for the past week."

"Just in Armenia?"

"Yes, they thought she wouldn't be able to leave the country without being detected."

"Will they start searching for her any where else?"

"For their sake, I wish they would. If they don't find her soon…then I hope she's dead. For her sake, and the kingdoms"

Oh, wow…

"So…what about the ball? Is the rest of the family coming?"

"Probably not. With this whole crisis and the fact that Armenia is halfway across the world, I really don't think they'll be able to make it."

We were silent again.

"Uh…sorry about running into you earlier."

Some more of that obnoxious chuckling followed.

"It's okay. Couldn't blame you though, Serria looked like she was about to come after you."

"Speaking of Serria, I'm surprised you laughed when I…commented on her…appearance."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You seemed to be interested."

"If I was, my father would disown me."

We laughed and carried on like that for a while until we reached the kitchen.

I stood there nervously, not knowing what to do.

Should I just leave, or wait for him to excuse me?

As I fiddled with my thumbs and looked at my toes, I could tell Fuji was enjoying my discomfort.

"You should get back to the kitchen."

I nodded and opened the door.

"Oh yeah, meet us in Rose's room at 5:30."

With that, he walked off with a flourish.

Only one question entered my mind.

What did he mean by "us"?

* * *

...And finished! Now all I have to say is: Review Please!

Egyptianlover


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Prince of Tennis belongs to someone…and it's not me.

* * *

"I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be late!"

I ran up the long winding staircase up to Rose's room hoping that whoever was in that room wasn't a stickler for tardiness.

Panting, I swung open the grand door. Once again I was blinded by the light.

Squinting my eyes, I peered to see who was before me. As soon as I did, I slammed the door shut.

I power walked away hoping they didn't notice me.

I wasn't in much of a good mood right now because of a kitchen accident, but now I had to deal with _all of them_!?

"Hey! Wait up!"

Crap.

Only a little bit further and I'll be at the stairs. I was nearly there when I felt a strong grip on my arm.

"Why are you trying to run away?"

That voice…that monotone, cocky, stupid little voice. Only the fakest of fake smiles will be able to cover up the hatred smoldering up inside of me.

I swirled around hoping maybe my ears, eyes, and instincts were playing tricks on me.

Unfortunately, they weren't.

Before me stood Prince Ryoma Echizen.

First, let's get one fact straight.

He was unbelievably cute.

No, I don't have a "thing" for him, that was Sakuno, but I do posses an immense amount loathing. And I don't even know why! I guess that conceited attitude gets to me. Or maybe it's the way he smiles, or the way he walks, or the way he acts like he's better than everyone else…doesn't matter the reason, I just don't like him.

But my feelings aren't taken into account when the family decides to invite people over, all that matters is that I kept up a smile, and serve them their friggin' stuffed pigeons.

"I thought I had stepped into the wrong room prince."

My face hurts so much from this artificial smiling.

He snorted and raised an eyebrow.

"To me it looked like you were overcome with absolute horror, and then walked as fast away as possible hoping we didn't notice you."

Okay, now he just pissed me off. I know he was right, but it just burned me up knowing that was true. I hated when he was right.

I grabbed his arm with my hand and leaned in close.

"Stop messing with me, or I swear you'll wish you had all those little body guards of yours around to protect you."

I roughly shoved him out the way and marched over to Rose's room.

Wait…did I just—did I just talk like that to a _prince._ Oh, who cares, his short little midget butt couldn't do anything about it. If he did try anything I'll stomp a mud hole in his arse.

Never in my life had I rushed to one of their bedrooms so.

Again I swung open the door, but this time I didn't care if I was blinded by the white walls, the white carpet, the big windows, or the beautiful people in the room. The sooner I got this done, the sooner I would be able to escape from Ryoma.

"Oh, there she is!"

Again I froze. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Slowly with my head down, I walked up to them and curtsied.

"Good day to you Princes and Princess Rose."

Fuji, Yuuta (not really), and Rose all smiled and said, "Good day to you too."

"Now it's time to get to business."

Fuji walked over to the door and locked it. Then Rose and Fuji walked towards me with evil grins on their faces. Sensing the danger I backed away, but ended up backing into a wall.

Oh crap. I'm screwed, big time.

They closed in on me and I screamed.

* * *

All of the poking, and prodding, and pulling, and pushing, and squeezing, and tugging, and combing, and brushing was very unpleasant, so I'll skip to the end.

I hid behind a curtain while they tried to coax me out.

"Come on, we want to see."

"Please!"

"Yuuta really wants to see you!"

I heard a "Hey!" from where I was hiding.

He was forced to be here during my torture so he could put his input in. If I didn't come out, then Yuuta wouldn't be able to leave, and I wasn't so cold hearted that I was going to let him suffer.

Put aside my pride, I stepped out for them to look. "Hurry up and let me leave."

Yuuta's mouth hung open, while Fuji and Rose beamed.

"You look gorgeous!" Rose cried out. She even pulled me over to a mirror to prove her point.

My hair had been combed through at least 1,000 times, and it shines like it too. It was tossed over one shoulder and held in place by a flower shaped clip made of gold to match my dress. The dress looked like it was conjured up by a fairy.

I had to touch my face to make sure it was me.

"Wow." That was the only thing I could whisper.

A flood of memories came rushing back to me; I looked like what I did back then…

"What in the hell did you guys do to me!?"

Yuuta winced at my scream. "I told you she wasn't going to be happy."

Fuji just smiled at him and told him to leave. He gladly obeyed.

"What do you mean, 'what did we do', you look stunning."

I glared in Rose's direction.

"I look ridiculous! It looks like I'm begging to be saved from a tower guarded by a...a dragon or something!"

"What's so bad about that?"

"What's so bad? What's so bad!? I'll tell you what's bad about it!"

I was about to when that stupid, sword swinging, horse racing, good-for-nothing _prince_ decided to step in. He stepped right in front of me and looked me square in the eyes.

The icy look in them made me take a half step back.

When our faces were barely an inch apart, he spoke in a low tone.

"Suck it up and wear it."

What a jerk.

"What if I don't want to?" I spoke in the same deadly tone.

"Does it look like I care?"

Knowing that no matter what I did I was going to lose, I leaned in even farther and glared as hard as I could, and made my final statement.

"I forgot; I'm not important. But if you knew, I bet you would."

Pushing him away, I walked coldly out the door.

* * *

Mwahahahahahahahaha!! I finally found the power of line breaks!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Pairings: **As of now...the only pairingqs that are set in concrete are RyoSaku and FujiSaeki.

**Disclaimer:**You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. I do not own PoT...this or the other kind for future reference.

* * *

Greeting people at a door was a very easy job. All you had to do was smile, say hello, and instruct them where the prince, princess, king, queen, or banquet table was depending on who they were. But it wasn't easy when you had to be escorted to the party by a person you had threatened not too long ago, and couldn't even prepare for the people you were about to greet because you didn't know who they were.

I clung to Ryoma's arm as he swished me from place to place while he led me to the Garden House.

The Garden House was called that because it had the best view of the royal garden. It was great for informal get-togethers such as this one. Whenever they decided to throw big parties, such as Rose's coming out party, they used the Ballroom instead.

It had enough room for about 20 people, and since it was separated from the main castle, had lots of privacy.

We reached the place as the sun just started to set.

I curtsied and muttered, "Thank you." to Ryoma.

He only smirked.

Rolling my eyes, I hiked up my dress, and walked up the steps.

After Ryoma had entered, I shut the door and collapsed in a chair. He may have been shorter than me, but he sure knew how to move those legs. It didn't help that this dress was super huge!

Ryoma leaned against the wall next to me. "Aren't you going to light the fire place?" he asked in a bored tone.

Again, I glared at him. You know, this is really starting to get old.

Of course I got up from the very comfy chair, and glided over to the fire place. Yes, I did just say I glided, they taught me how do to that during the whole makeover thing. Supposedly, you're supposed to _glide_ while wearing a formal gown.

Anyway, I glided over to the fireplace and started a fire (what else), while Ryoma watched me the whole time. Then I glided back to chair and plopped—gracefully mind you—on it.

Still watching me, Ryan started laughing.

"What?" I asked rudely.

"Nothing, it's just…did you look in the mirror before you left?"

I sent another glare his way.

"Do I have to remind you of our little conversation not too long ago?"

His laughing ceased, but was replaced with a small chuckle.

"You don't have to be so hostile, all I meant was that you looked a little awkward in that dress." Ryoma walked behind and me and added, "It looks like you haven't been in a dress in a long time, or not at all. Or that you absolutely detest the whole 'prim' thing and refuse to cooperate. Your steps are way too exaggerated and don't have the proper flow. It looks like you're trying way too hard."

I felt my temper rising, but it started to cool down as soon as it flared up.

A sigh escaped my lips when realization hit me. He was right.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Would I be saying anything if it wasn't?"

I groaned.

"Great. Even the _densest person in the world_ can tell how bad I look."

He walked out from behind the chair and pulled me up. I guess he was expecting me to be heavier or something, so he pulled really hard.

I tumbled right into him unfortunately, causing him to fall back and nearly crash into the fireplace. To avoid doing that he pushed himself forward and landed on top of me.

CRASH!

Our foreheads banged together.

"Ow!"

"Ouch!"

I looked up at him as he rubbed a sore spot on his head.

"Who knew you were such a hard head."

I smacked him on his sore spot.

"What was that for!?"

"Who cares, now get off! You're too heavy."

I pushed with all my might trying to get him off of top of me. He rolled up to side and I straightened up and smoothed the creases out of my dress.

Still rubbing his head, Ryoma started to smirk at me. I wonder what smart-arse thing he has to say now (insert sarcasm here).

"I never knew you felt that way about me. Try to keep yourself from not jumping my bones next time."

Why that little…Ugh! I have all the right in the world to slap him across the face right now. But no, I will stand strong, and not give in to his little antics. Because I am an intelligent young woman who will not sink to his level. I am going to walk away with my head held high and—

"Oh wait, I know what it was. You thought I was Fuji."

Okay, now that was the last straw. Screw intelligence, this is WAR.

"I don't know what you're talking about. To me, it seemed _you_were the one who pulled me down." With the same expression on my face I added, "And by the look in your eyes I could have sworn you thought I was Sakuno."

His eyes widened a little bit and a blush crept up on his face. Looks like I struck a chord.

"I—you—that—shut up!"

I laughed heartily at his embarrassment, but while I was laughing, I also had to wonder why he was so embarrassed.

His friends tease him about it all the time and he just shrugs them off, but when _I _said something, he all of a suddenly was on the defensive. I guess it just surprised him that I knew at all. Or maybe he's scared that I'm a snitch and thinks I'm going to tell Sakuno herself.

I might have messed with him a little more until I heard a bunch of clanging coming from the back.

I looked to Ryoma to see if he knew what was going on, but he seemed just as confused as I did.

After a moment, Ryoma, with a frown on his face, motioned for me to stand behind him. Not wasting any time I did exactly that.

Now, that doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about defending myself when I need too. Back in the day I was quite the fighter, but come on, YOU try kicking someone while wearing a dress like this.

Crouching, we slowly walked to the door. On the way to the back door, Ryoma grabbed a monumental sword off the wall. Typical, boys never feel secure without their toys. I simply took one of my heels off and stayed behind Ryoma.

Finally after like 10 hours of practically crawling, we reached the door. Taking a deep breath, he put his hand on the knob and asked me quietly to stand next to him. Then he flung open the door to reveal…!

Sakuno. Wow. Never saw that one coming.

I would have laughed at the irony of it all if I wasn't laughing at the look on her face. Can't blame her for looking like that though. I mean, wouldn't you be surprised if all of a suddenly your crush and a good friend of yours just busted through the door with one pointing a sword at you and the latter waving a shoe around like a maniac?

Anyway, once we realized who the "intruder" was, we lowered our weapons and sighed. (Well, Ryoma did, I was laughing too hard.)

"W-what's going on?" Sakuno took her hand from her mouth and spoke again, "Why are you here? And what are you wearing?"

Crap. 'Sort of kind of thought she wouldn't notice the dress, the makeup, or the fact that my hair been thoroughly combed out for the first time in several years.

"Y-you see…I um…er…well…Princess Rose and Prince Fuji they…uh…"

Annoyed by my stuttering, Ryoma and his stupid butt decided to step in for me.

"The girl is entertaining tonight."

I sent a glare his way. Seriously! Can we go two seconds without one of us glaring at another!

"H-hi Prince Ryoma. A-aren't you o-one of the g-guest?"

"Uh-huh."

"O-Okay…"

Seeing that his conversation is going nowhere, I guess I should start contributing.

"Why are _you_ here?"

"I had to bring the food from the palace to here. I don't think the guest would be happy without food, especially considering how Prince Ryoma eats!" we both giggled as Ryoma's face turned scarlet.

"Hey! Momo is always pushing me into a competition. And Eiji's just as bad!"

A picture of the ever hyper redhead flashed into my mind. Another giggle escaped my lips as I thought of him. That boy never knew when to sit down.

"Don't blame it on them, you're a pig. Admit it!"

This time he sent me a glare.

I shook my head and continued my conversation with Sakuno.

"Anyway, how did you get here? I'm really surprised you didn't get lost."

She sighed. "Really, you don't have to make fun of me you know."

I looked at her confused.

"What are you talking about?" giving her a weird stare I continued. "You have to admit, you aren't the best with directions," she blushed, "But not even the best tracker in the world could find this place. Especially if they had never even been here before."

Now it was her turn to give me the weird stare.

"U-um…I think you got it all wrong."

Taking me by the hand, she led me to the window and pointed. I looked out to see a fairly small path leading from the back door to the palace.

"Whoops, I guess I forgot about that route." said a voice from behind me. I could hear the sarcasm and amusement laced into that voice I hated so much right now.

It all happened in a flash.

SMACK!

I wheeled around and slapped Ryoma right across the face.

Ouch that hurt my hand a little more than I thought it would. It must have hurt his face even worse.

My body was ten times faster than my brain and reacted without me thinking it through.

Well, I guess you could say I did think it through a little bit.

My brain _did_process the part on how Ryoma tricked me into traipsing through the garden, and that my patience for him was very, very, VERY low. And how good it would feel to backhand him. It did fell good for the most part…except my hand just hurt so darn much!

Bur hey, at least I didn't punch him. That would have been worse.

We all stood there frozen in place. Sakuno had her hand over her mouth, Ryoma's face was still turned from the force of the blow, and I'm just standing here thinking how the hell I'm going to get out of this one.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Was anyone going to break this silence?!

"I-I…I think we should get the f-food out before the g-guests arrive."

"G-good idea." I answered quickly.

Both of us set up the banquet in record time, all the while avoiding eye contact.

I could feel the eyes of Ryoma boring into my back as I rearranged a vase of flowers. It made me so nervous I broke a few of the stems.

Sighing in defeat, I threw the flowers down and buried my face in my hands. I had stepped out of line before, but this was an all record high. Or low. Whichever one was worse.

Only some serious butt kissing would get me out of this one.

Throwing any pride I had left out the window, I walked over to Ryoma and curtsied as low as possible.

"I am deeply sorry for the event that just occurred, Your Royal Highness."

I heard a bit of snickering and looked up to see his all famous smirk.

"It barely even hurt."

I frowned and nearly retorted to his cocky remark, but decided against it. Instead, I settled for raising an eyebrow and poking him in the assaulted cheek.

As I expected he flinched.

I returned the smirk and trotted off towards my "should be" post at the door.

After a few minutes of just standing there doing nothing, I heard a violin start being beautifully played.

Sakuno shuffled next to me and looked at something in absolute admiration. I turned around to see Ryoma playing. He plucked and strummed the strings so which such precise timing I was deeply impressed.

When he realized we were staring at him, he ceased his playing.

"That was w-wonderful!" Sakuno cried out.

I could only stare at him in wonder. No words could explain what I was feeling. I always knew the brat was talented, but that was incredible!

He smiled and began playing again.

We all sat no longer bored and waited for the first guest to arrive.


End file.
